My 190E 16V Euro Transformation......
 

Well the 300E transformation is complete

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/performance-paddock/368480-my-300e-factory-5-speed-transformation.html

So now on to a new project. I spotted this car in front of a German mechanic shop here locally. I had my friend turn around so I could just look at it. No for sale sign in window. Was thinking it was a customer of the mechanic. It was a Sunday so they were closed. I pulled up on it and it looked like a nice lil 190E 16v ( I have had a couple now). Anyway when I walked around to the side I seen the cloth "karo" interior indicating it was probably a Euro/Grey market car. I have always loved the interiors with the cloth inserts! I think they are way cool! Anyway, got the number to the shop and made a call. Lady answered said it was her husbands car and not for sale and then put him on the line. After a little chat he said he wouldn't take any less then $xxxx amount if he was to sell it. So I waited about 3 weeks and took a ride back down to his shop with cash in hand. The car was sitting outside his shop basically undriven for a few months and the hot Florida sun was baking the car. Needless to say it has allot of trim items either missing or in need of replacement. Paint had been recently redone and interior was a bit neglected. Well we struck a deal and I drove her home. She had a Walmart carbon fiber shift knob that stood about 2 inches high and was just god awful to shift. She also has a buzzy rattily Honda civic sounding exhaust that is just bad. Also an exhaust leak that had my eyes burning after my 45 minute drive home. Once home I really got to go through the car and see what she needs. Passenger front window doesn't work. Suspension needs a complete overhauling, same as my 300E received.Steering wheel cover faded, steering wheel leather splitting, a/c compressor no good, no floor matts, doors off a bit in drivers rear, trunk off a bit. I haven't got her on the lift yet but everything seems to be good to go and straight. It somehow received some made in china euro lights and the wiper panels under the lights are gone. However I found one brand new panel in the trunk in a box full of spare parts and trim pcs. So anyway, if you read my 300E thread, you can get an idea of how I treat my old cars. I have already started the parts collection for this car and am excited to share with you the transformation. Alright enough talking, here some pic.

Here she was on the side of the road in front of the shop. He did some straight line track days with her hence the numbers

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Got her home and gave her a bath.Removed the numbers off rear window.
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With her one year younger sister, the 190E is a 1985

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LOL shift knob, no cracks in dash somehow...

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Made in China Euros with clear corners...yuck
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Faded steering wheel cover

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A/C vent was cracked and rear dome light switch was pushed through, so new parts ordered and inbound. Steering wheel cover removed (non airbag car) and new part inbound. Also manual seat car and power windows only in front, rears are wind up.
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Rear deck lid completely faded to white and a major eye sore. Rear headrest missing but 2 new "Karo" pattern rear headrests were offered to me and are inbound, cant wait! Thanks to a fellow forum member.

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First part ordered arrived today

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Installed and you can see bleeding lap timer, new parts for that rebuild also inbound. More to come as stuff arrives! Cheers.
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headrest came in thanks Jeff! Brand new, super hard to find, my car was optioned with them but gone by the time I got the car. Will get some better pictures of them installed tomorrow. Car was in the garage all day.

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new dome light, mine had red bulbs in it and was mangled inside. The selection dial was free spinning and had lost its stop points on the various settings. Found old/new stock Hella on ebay.

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new and old
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Delrin full bushing kit for shifter and shift rods, not installed yet
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old steering wheel face was faded and flat, picked this nice condition one up off ebay, looks way better
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Threw some new floor matts in her to so my shoes were not directly on the carpets
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Bleeding lap timer fixed

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A/C vent is in and done so dash and interior is coming around nicely....

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Got my buddy that does high end detailing over here today. Did a wash and full clay bar treatment. Followed by panel by panel compound. Then it gets a panel by panel polish. Next it gets a panel by panel paint sealant coating and it has to sit/cure overnight and then we do another paint sealant. Sits overnight again, and then its all followed up by a carnauba wax coat. Going to take about a week to complete. He finished the compound on the front clip today and all the clear coat scratches are gone. I can hear her purring in the garage now.


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Christmas in October. Bosch/ AL Euros with Euro amber corners. Also doing the Osram Night breakers bulbs again like I did in the blue 300E. I loved the lighting they put out and they are made in Germany. Selling my TWC euros with clear corners and bulbs from the above pictures, $180 shipped.

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So after 9 days straight of working section by section on the paint. The car is finally done. Again it received a wash/clay bar cleaning, then another wash. Then it was taped off and compounded w/Dual Action Polisher using Wolfgang concourse series Uber compound. Next came a layer Wolfgang finishing glaze. After that it was all sealed in using Wolfgang deep gloss paint sealant. After the sealant is applied, you leave it on for 45 minutes and then wipe off. It then has to sit overnight to cure. Well we did another layer of sealant the following day and let it sit again overnight. The finishing touch was Pinnacle natural brilliance Souveran carnauba wax applied by hand. We let that sit overnight and then did another final coating in the carnauba wax today. The results are astonishing. The car looks as if it just came out of the paint booth. She's as slick as ice.

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Also popped in the euro ambers today but didn't have time to put in the Bosch headlamps yet

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Couple evening shots

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Very cool. Very nice job. And on the 10th day he rested?

Headlights still for sale?

new inner glove box and all its proper clips and new light switch installed today. My glove box was a mess with no clips. Thanks again to Jeff for the clean parts and all the little clips.

I cant get the light to turn off as the door doesn't press against the new switch hard enough to turn the light off. I have fully adjusted the door as much as I can to close as tight as it will and still no luck, so I pulled the bulb for now instead of having it on all the time.

On a side not, I got her registered and tagged this week. So had a chance to drive her today. She is very peppy and 4th gear has been modified and is very long. 1,2,3 goes pretty normal and then 4th just pulls and pulls and pulls. Its actually very quick in 4th. The previous owner was using the car for some 1/2 and 1 mile straight away full speed runs and I think he modified the rear diff a bit. I need to get back in contact with him to see exactly what he did.

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Very nice finishing touches

Also got the AL/Bosch Euro lamps in with the Osram night breaker bulbs. City lights, regular and regular w/fogs all working well. I was also very surprised that the euro spec only lamp height adjustment function still works. So I can raise/lower the headlamp beam by a few degrees up or down from inside the car.

***The amber corners are only used as turn signals on the euro cars. When I turn the dial to the first setting the city lights come on, where on the US cars, the ambers would come on. Its the same with the parking light seeting (right or left). The city light and a rear tail light come on, no ambers.

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City lights, looks brighter in pics then it is

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regular headlights

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headlights and fog

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New rubber came in today. Tires on the car now are from 2004. Not many options left in these small sizes. But I do like the pricing compared to modern day tire sizes.

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Finally got the panels under the lights painted and installed. Just a rattle can job with the 199 blue black. Will get them done right later down the road with spray and clear coat.

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Did tranny and diff fluid change this weekend along with Delrin shift bushing kit install

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Finally got around to the oil change today as well

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Another little cosmetic issue solved. Passengers side rear view mirror was in bad shape. So ordered a new one and installed.

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Got the rear seats out today so I can get to the faded speaker shelf. Going to redo in black. Its in sad shape for sure.

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Also removed the exhaust. Have a new downpipe coming from Germany. A new center muffler from the local dealership and the rear muffler is in good shape. So will be re-using that pc. Its a Eberspaecher muffler and appears to have been recently replaced. You can see no center muffler here but there is a resonator. Sounds like a kids Honda and I cant take it. Next year will be adding a performance Stromung kit from one of the 190Rev guys. But for now replacing with OEM parts. The downtube is no longer avail from Mercedes in Euro cat free form. So bought a aftermarket pc. from Ebay Germany. The downpipe I just removed appears to be aftermarket as well. Hoping I will no longer smell fumes in the cabin when all this is finished.

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Sub frame coming out this weekend. Going to delete all SLS components. New Evo ll rear sway bar and bushings. New Vogtland lowering springs with new Bilstein sport shocks. All new rear end bushings including lower control arms, all rear wheel arms as seen in image below , and all 4 sub frame bushings. While I have it out, I'm going to to reinforce/re-weld and strengthen the sub frame. Then going to media blast it and powder coat. Then put it all together and move to the front end. Got a good jump on the rear tonight.

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Sub frame out and ready for rehab

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Custom built 17x8 ET35 and 17x9 ET35 Rotiform LHR wheels with matte gold centers exposed hardware and polished lips have been ordered. Should be about a month, hopefully just in time to cap off the suspension being put back in the car. I got the idea from this BMW. Love the 80s period look. Really wanted AMG OZ wheels but they are old used wheels that are proan to crack and cost as much as what I paid for brand new custom built rotiforms. So if I do track the car I will have peace of mind knowing my wheels were made this century. I know they wont be everybodys cup of tea, but that's ok. I'm building this car for me and am building it to keep for a long time and enjoy. Not sweating modifications and de-value of the car as this car is not perfect and needs allot. So going to make it mine. Oh yeah, forgot, sub frame is being powder coated candy gold, LOL, fun fun fun!


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Now I can't wait to see that!

Springs came in today from Germany. I have no clue how much these will drop the car. As you can see these are made for the heavier W201 6 cyl. So they (Vogtland) include the 16V US cars in this same group do to the 16V heavier engine and I think larger fuel tank in rear. I could be wrong on this. Well my car is a euro so its a bit lighter from what I gather as my car has no power seats, no rear power windows no cat converter, no door intrusion safety rods/bars and also no air bag. We are also deleting radio, insulation matt behind rear seat, spare tire and a few other things to lighten the car up a bit more for better acceleration. But than again we are going to 17" forged wheels/tires and removing forged 15" wheels. So its all guess work. I'm just hoping these springs give it a nice drop and a good descent ride.

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Since the rears are out already I compared them, factory only seems about 1/2 inch taller. I guess it has to do with the stiffness of the spring.

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Got the diff and axels separated from the sub frame today. Still have a couple arms left on the steering knuckle to get off.

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Removed the SLS system tonight. Here you can see the hard lines that run up the passengers side, the bracket and lever that hooks up to the sway bar, the 2 accumulators/spheres and the rear SLS shocks. I also took out the fluid canister and the bracket that holds the canister. I stripped a bolt on the SLS pump so I didn't get it out tonight. Hopefully tomorrow and I can install the delete plug. I definitely removed some unwanted weight, that's for sure.

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I'm working with minimal space in a 1 car garage. But I'm determined to get the job done!

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Nice work Nippy. Keep us all updated.